Giroux hitting stride as Hart candidate

Philadelphia Flyers' Claude Giroux, left, celebrates with Jakub Voracek as Washington Capitals' Eric Fehr skates by after Giroux's goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Flyers' Claude Giroux reacts after scoring during overtime of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Tuesday, March 18, 2014, in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 3-2. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

VOORHEES, N.J. — He had the look Tuesday night, Claude Giroux did. The stare of a shooting star hitting his zenith.

It’s what the situation called for at the time, what with the overtime clock ticking below 10 seconds, the fallacy of the NHL’s manufactured shootout system that unjustly ends excellent hockey games like this one against the Blackhawks; how it can so often rob his Flyers team of precious points in the standings.

In a season stretch drive like this one, where nothing is guaranteed, a goal like the one Giroux scored with four seconds remaining in overtime is the kind of play under pressure that separates the very good players in the league from the select few that can honestly be deemed “stars,” and could perhaps be considered to be MVP candidates.

Claude Giroux wouldn’t be first in your program of postseason award candidates, but just like the shot he put past Chicago’s Antii Raanta for a 3-2 victory ... he’s trending upward with a bullet.

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“Well he’s playing like it,” Scott Hartnell said Wednesday in making the case for Giroux as a Hart Trophy candidate. “He’s led our team from the basement of the East to a contender to get into the playoffs and to make a run. I’ve said all along he’s the guy that makes us tick. He’s emotional, he cares about everyone ... and he wants to win bad.”

Probably at no other time in this season, and likely not since a 2012 playoff win over Pittsburgh, when then-coach Peter Laviolette stumped for him as the “best player in the world,” has Giroux looked so valuable to a team that again is on the rise.

“You can tell that in his eyes,” Hartnell said as the Flyers prepared for Thursday night’s home game against the Dallas Stars. “You can tell that in the way he practices, in the way he warms up, in the way he plays kickball before games. He wants to win at everything he does. And that’s something you need in a leader. For the last however many games he’s been, arguably, the best player in the league, for sure.”

Giroux, of course, isn’t buying into that. At mention of his growing stature in Hart Trophy speculation, which until recently was centered on Sidney Crosby and essentially no one else, Giroux said Wednesday: “I’m not worried about it.”

But there’s a lot of buzz about it.

This in a season that began so dubiously on a golf course last summer. The injury he suffered when, he said, he grounded a club and it shattered into his hand while preparing for a charity tourney in the Ottawa area. It clearly affected him into the season.

Giroux went without a goal in his first 15 games, and the Flyers went with one victory in their first eight games. But when he finally scored in a game against Edmonton, both Giroux and the team began to take off.

“The confidence is there,” he said. “Like I’ve said before and I’ll say again, anytime the team’s playing well, individually, it’s a lot easier to do your job. Everybody’s on the same page and you don’t have to think as much. The team’s playing really well, so individually everybody’s job gets a lot easier.”

Over the last three months, while the Flyers have remained a steadily improving team, Giroux has arguably been the league’s most dynamic forward. Overall, through Tuesday, Giroux was fourth in the league with 71 points (26 goals, 47 assists). But he has more points since Dec. 11 than any other player, Crosby included.

Of course, Crosby’s season has come with a wave of Penguins injuries that have taken both his linemates, Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz. No one needs to argue Crosby’s candidacy for him.

But if the Flyers continue on their steady path, one that Giroux continues to map for them with both his play and leadership ... why wouldn’t he be part of the conversation for a special postseason honor?

“I think confidence just grows in a guy,” Hartnell said. “The way he plays, he can probably say whatever he wants. I’ll follow him to the Ben Franklin Bridge and jump off if he will lead the way. He’s just got a presence about him.”

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NOTES: For the first time all season after the 3-2 win over the Blackhawks, the Flyers’ goals for caught up with their goals-against. It’s 195 goals scored and 195 goals against for a Flyers team that stands at 36-25-7. After a loss to New Jersey Nov. 7, the Flyers fell to 4-10-1 and their goal differential at that point was minus-20 (22 for, 42 against). ... Giroux on the playoff race: “We’ve won three in a row here and (teams) are still right behind us in the standings. The Rangers are one (point) behind us and it’s like we can’t get away from them. So the next few games are going to be huge for us. ... If we lose two in a row we’re going to be back out of a playoffs (spot).”